Triple WiiWare impressions: My Life As A King, Defend Your Castle and LostWinds!

Today Nintendo finally launched the brand-new WiiWare service. Using the Wii Shop Channel, we can now download exclusive games straight to our Wii consoles. With six titles to choose from, you may be wondering which one is worth your hard-earned Wii Points. Of course, there's no way I would have been able to afford all six of these, so I narrowed down my choices to three: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King, LostWinds and Defend Your Castle. Here's how they're shaping up so far.



First up is LostWinds by Frontier Developments. The first thing you'll notice about LostWinds is how amazingly vibrant and lively it is (The above logo should give you a basic idea). Even the leaves and shrubbery in the background react to the cursor when you wave it past. A lot of effort was put into making this game look stunning, and it came across every bit as amazing as expected.

LostWinds follows the story of Toku, a young boy from a small village. When walking about one day, he stumbles upon a small stone containing a wind spirit. Named Enril, this spirit needs Toku's help to stop the evil elemental monster Balasar from destroying his homeland.

Controlling both Toku and Enril (Who takes the role of the game's cursor), players will use the powers of wind to guide the young adventurer through vast caves and fields. Every now and then a monster will appear, with Toku's only defense being Enril's wind powers. Whipping about the enemy with a gust of wind, Enril can slam it into the ground to finish it off. An interesting way to fight for sure.

The controls are very smooth, and guiding both Toku and Enril works just fine and never gets confusing. The puzzles take little more than a moment of thinking to figure out, but I'm sure things will get harder later on. Accompanying you on this somewhat linear adventure is a soft and calming soundtrack that quickly grows tense when an enemy approaches. It's an incredibly unique title, and so far seems well worth my 1000 Wii Points. If you get the chance, I suggest checking this one out.



If you like playing Flash games online, chances are you've dabbled in Defend Your Castle. The classic action-strategy game by XGen Studios has been a hit on many websites all around the internet, and today it made its debut on WiiWare for 500 Wii Points. Is it worth paying for a Wii version of a free Flash game? So far, I'd have to say yes.

For those of you not familiar with Defend Your Castle, here's the basics. The player takes the role of a cursor floating around the field. When an enemy roams into the field, players can pick them up and whip them into the air, killing them on impact. If picking them up doesn't work, players can also employ their own units to do the job, from archers to magicians to explosives experts. Upgrades can be purchased with points after each round, and then the next level starts.

First of all, there's no need to worry about having to learn a whole new control scheme. If you can pick up a Wiimote, you can play this. Just point at a baddy, press A to grab him, lift him in the air and release A to drop him. In fact, pointing and the A button are pretty much the only controls in this game. Very, very easy to understand.

Second, Defend Your Castle actually takes some strategy in addition to fast reflexes. Figuring out how to properly distribute your troops is key to surviving. Should you make more archers, get another magician, hire a stone mason, or just keep someone on hand to become an explosives expert? There's a surprising amount of thinking involved here.

Finally, this game is just a pleasure to both play and watch. Tossing several enemies in the air and watching them all plummet to the ground at random intervals in hilarious. It's raining men! And the animation style brings a whole new meaning to "homebrewed games". With Popsicle stick battering rams, bread clip cursors and construction paper castles, this is certainly a unique looking game.

Defend You Castle on WiiWare is certainly a step above the original Flash game. If you're a fan of the original, or you're looking for something unique, this is for you.



And finally we have the highest-profile of all the WiiWare games, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King. By mega-company Square-Enix, My Life As A King takes place after the first Crystal Chronicles game (Gamecube).

One thing's for sure, My Life As A King is one of the best looking WiiWare games we've seen. With a huge draw distance and lush environments, it's certainly a beauty of a game. Of course, all this graphical prowess is directly related to what sets this game apart from any other Final Fantasy: You can never leave the town. You play as a king, and it's your job to help rebuild the town that was destroyed in the events of the previous game. In order to build, you need material. This is where your warriors come into play.

You can send warriors to caves and dungeons near your town, and they'll spend the whole day fighting monsters and exploring, bringing home money and materials to build more houses and stores. And that's the basic extent of gameplay as far as I know. Really, I haven't had much time at all with this one, as I only downloaded it about four hours ago. All I can say for sure is that it starts off slow, but starts to pick up after a few in-game days.

The music and sound effects scream Final Fantasy. It's just so very fitting! And the characters certainly reflect the creativity of Square-Enix as well. Talking penguins? Hey, sure, why not?

If there's one apparent shortcoming thus far, it's that the characters have the same facial expression permanently glued to their head. Everyone is slightly happy all day long, no matter how amazing or terrible an event is. Would it have been that hard to add in a few more facial textures to show emotion?

Aside from this one problem, everything seems to be going great so far. The storyline is beginning to show itself, and my curiousity has definitely been piqued. I eagerly await more on just what exactly is going on! My Life As A King looks to be a major time-eater for me these next few days.

To make an early judgment, LostWinds, Defend Your Castle and My Life As A King are all pretty darn fun. They're certainly a unique bunch of games, and I honestly can't get enough of any of them. I'll be playing all three of these for quite some time to come. Probably the best $30 I've ever spent!

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Poll #39: "Would you be interested in a hard drive for the Wii?" results, banner

"Yes, and I don't care how much it costs" 17 votes (36%)
"Yes, but only if it's reasonably priced" 22 votes (47%)
"Maybe." 3 votes (6%)
"No, I have no reason to buy a hard drive for my Wii." 3 votes (6%)
"I don't know." 1 vote (2%)

I'm definitely in need of a hard drive... I had to wipe so much stuff off my Wii memory to make room for just three WiiWare games! Oy...

This week's banner is once again from forum member Camieman10. This banner sets out to say that just because a game is old doesn't make it any less amazing, and it succeeds in stating this for sure. Nothing like a golden oldie!



For this week's poll, the question is "Which DS model do you have?". Personally, I'm using a DS Lite right now. I had to sell my old DS to my sister to afford it... I really hate doing that.

So then, the next article will be up really soon!

The Duck Has Spoken.

Animal Crossing Wii ideas 5: Still no end in sight

I feel it's about time I re-visit one of the staples of this blog, my Animal Crossing Wii ideas series! Every month I do these, always hoping that by the next update I could stop guessing and finally see the real thing. Yet, once again, a month goes by without a whisper, so here we are. Time for round five of Animal Crossing Wii ideas!

The return of tents and igloos

In the first Animal Crossing, randomly throughout Summer and Winter, you'd see tents and igloos, respectively. Inside was a villager eager to play a game against you. A game that usually ended up with you paying a whole whackload for a piece of crap. And that was it. Sure, you could go back again and pay another 3000 bells for yet another Kiddy Carpet, but really, isn't there something you'd rather be doing?

However, there was too much potential in these little refuges to leave them behind, so I think they should come back in Animal Crossing Wii. What could be done to make these better? I was thinking maybe a traveler would be the one to set up camp, and they'd talk about their journey, where they've been, where they're going... Maybe they've even been to one of your friends' towns! Then they'd give you a gift to remember them by, and the next day, they'd be gone. Really adds a bit more of a point to the tents and igloos, doesn't it?

Expanding on multiplayer

As we are all well aware of, Nintendo has long stressed that Animal Crossing Wii will feature interaction on a level not yet seen in any other game in the series. With friends sending you letters via WiiConnect24 and perhaps even visiting while you're not playing, there's going to be so much more to do with all your pals online. Here are a few minor ideas I have.

First, there would be a huge amount of friends allowed in any town at any time. I was thinking maybe twelve maximum, but I'd settle for anything above Wild World's four. This would make for some insane online treasure hunting (More details in Volume 2), and perhaps even organized hide-and-seek. With twelve people, who knows?

Second, several people could play at once on the same Wii. Anybody with an existing resident could simply hop in, and those who are simply dropping by for a visit could use one of two guest characters (One male, one female). You could even go online while someone else is playing with you, working in a way similar to Mario Kart Wii's two VS world multiplayer. Of course, one limitation would be if one person went to another town, everyone would have to go with them. Rendering two (Or more) separate towns at once would surely cause the Wii to burst into flames.

Random toys and objects lying around

Back in Animal Crossing for the Gamecube, you could randomly find balls lying around town. You could just kick them around for fun, and sometimes a villager may ask for one to play with. You deliver it, they're happy, mission complete. However, like the tents and igloos, this was sadly absent from Animal Crossing: Wild World. But I want to see it return!

To add to the original selection of just balls, there could also be sticks and such lying around. These could be sold for a couple bells at Tom Nook's shop, or maybe they'd just randomly fall from trees, tripping anyone not careful enough to watch for them. Perhaps you'd even see some other kind of outdoor toy, like a Frisbee or a pogo-stick. You never really know! And of course, you may see garbage tossed on the ground by some inconsiderate villager from time to time. Why, the nerve of some people!

Villagers being able to visit a friend's town

In Animal Crossing Wii, perhaps a villager may seem to disappear from time to time. Where'd they go? Ask one of your friends if they're in their town! I think it'd be really cool if villagers could freely visit your friends' towns whenever they want. After all, who says only humans can leave town? What makes us so special? You know, besides thumbs.

If a villager really likes it in your friend's town, they could even decide to move there. But don't worry, you can still visit them! They'd retain all their memories of you, the other villagers and the town itself. And who knows, they may move back. Or they could even move to yet another town from there, ending up in who-knows-where! Villagers need to go out on their own, too, don't you think?

Give a gift to any villager, any time

Talking to any villager for more than a few minutes usually spurs them to give you something like a carpet or a crappy chair. But what if we wish to give them something? Usually the only time we can is when they ask, but I think it'd be nice if we could give something to one of our village buddies whenever we want. Generosity's always nice!

Oh, and don't think giving them something they just gave you will work. They don't appreciate re-gifting, especially without even one degree of separation.

This concludes our broadcast week. We'll be back for more this Monday evening.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

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Mini-Article: A new genre of gaming

Every time an appropriate movie comes out, a game developer makes a video game adaption of it. In fact, sometimes the movie doesn't even have to be a good fit for a game conversion and it'll still be made (See: Alvin and the Chipmunks). But what if we were to take a different look at movie games? What if, instead of your standard platformer or FPS adaptions, we instead had...


...interactive movies? I know, you're probably thinking "This is the same as a normal movie game!". But hear me out. For this example, I'll be using the movie Cloverfield (As seen above). This movie follows the story of a group of young twenty-somethings as a horrific monster attacks their home town of New York. We follow them throughout their insane ordeal had when trying to escape from this unknown threat.

What if, in the interactive movie, we didn't follow them, but instead became them? We would take on the role of Rob, the movie's unofficial star, as he runs through the streets of Manhattan. And that's it, really. Other than that, this would be exactly like the movie, but we're the main character. Every second of gameplay would be through his eyes. We'd control him, of course, but there'd be no additional fight scenes or anything like that. Everything that happened in the movie happens here, and nothing more.

Sure, you're thinking "Well, why not just buy the DVD?". Well, really, there's no reason to buy either one over the other. It's all based on preference. People can watch the story unfold, or take part in it. It would be exactly as I said: An interactive movie.

Actually, that's not entirely true. There would be a few minor changes. For one, we could walk around and inspect things that in the movie was never even glanced at. We could talk to the other terrified people of New York, seeing if we can get any idea about what this monster is. We could even run off course a bit and scout out the area. But mostly, things would be exactly as they were in the film.

Okay, this may sound a little boring and unappealing to the masses, but hey, didn't Brain Age sound the same way at first? That's because this wouldn't exactly be aimed at us core gamers. It would be more for those who want to get a little more out of their movies without doing too much work or learning too many things. It would also be for those who want to feel the thrill of running from some unknown being, something I'd love to experience (Not for real, of course!).

I guess it's somewhat difficult to express my ideas in words. Just imagine any old movie, but instead of watching it, you're in it. But it's different from a traditional game adaption. But it's sort of the same! AUGH! This is so hard to explain... I hope you get the basic idea.

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Pokémon: Why it needs to go back to go forward

I love the Pokémon series of games. Ever since I first got Pokémon Yellow way back in 1999, I've been hooked. I pick up each new game in the main series as soon as possible, even buying Gold Version and Diamond Version on their release dates. I have just about as much fun now as I did all those years ago, but something is starting to feel different about the series. It's not quite like the game I got for Christmas almost a decade ago. I really feel that, in some ways, Pokémon needs to go back to go forward.

First of all, I really hate how nice the rivals are now. I remember back in Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, how Gary Oak use to say "Smell ya later, gramps!" and "You stinker! I took it easy on you!". He was a jerk, and you really wanted to put him in his place. But now, the rivals are nice. You don't want to fight them. They're good sports, they encourage you to get better, hell, they're mostly childhood friends! I wish we could go back to the way things were in the first two generations, with jerks like Gary Oak and the mysterious red-haired kid.

Unlike Dawn and Lucas, the jerky crook in the second generation
was a rival you really wanted to beat the crap out of.

And what's the deal with how complicated the Pokémon contests have gotten? In Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, it was as simple as entering and using appropriate moves to wow the judges. But in Diamond and Pearl, that hardly even seems like the focus of the contest any more. First, you have to dress up your Pokémon (What?). This is a really weird and somewhat abstract step, as your asked to dress them according to such bizarre themes as "The Alive", or some crap like that. They don't even tell you what class each accessory falls under, just to go ahead and slap some crap on your Pokémon.

And then there's the dance competition, which is just plain odd, and incredibly easy. For the first three turns, you mimic the moves of the lead dancer Pokémon, and on the fourth turn you perform your own dance. Except they aren't really dances, but more like timed button taps on the lower screen corresponding to one of four colours/directions. These just take away from what should be the main focus of the Pokémon contests, which is the actual competition stage.

One more thing that's really changed for the worst over the last three generations is the slot machine mini-game. In the original games, they were as easy as lining up the right symbols to win credits. But now there's things like bonus time and weird countdowns and stuff... What happened to the actual slot machine part? Other than the timed button-presses to stop each individual reel, there's almost nothing in the current slot machines like that in the originals. My dad always used to ask to play around in the slot machines in Yellow, but I think that all these changes and complications would only turn him away from them now. In fact, they're even turning me away. I've barely spent any time at all in the Game Corner in Diamond. Can't slot machines just be slot machines again?

And what's with all these weird and somewhat useless HMs? What the heck is with Defog? There's only one, maybe two places in the entirety of Pokémon Diamond where there's fog to disperse, and it just seems like an excuse to make up a new move. Not only that, but Defog is practically useless in battle. All it did was take up space in my Empoleon's moveset. I think they could have done well without the thick fog, and thusly without this useless HM. They could have easily gone with a light fog and gotten the same atmospheric effect, but without the annoying space-waster that is Defog.

Defog's not the only problem with the current HMs. What's the point of Rock Climb? It just serves as an annoyance to me. These climbing sections could have easily been replaced with, say, a staircase or ladder. As for serving as a way to impede progress until later on in the game, I'm sure something else could have been worked out. Anything to avoid the uninspired Rock Climb HM.

In fact, what if we just went back to how it was in the beginning, with five HMs? Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength and Flash were all good enough for me. I wouldn't mind if they added in one or two of the newer HMs like Waterfall or Rock Smash, just for a bit of variety. Just no "clone" HMs, like Defog and Rock Climb are. After all, they're just variations on Flash and Waterfall, respectively.

While the core gameplay of Pokémon has gotten nothing but better, there are so many parts of it that have done little but get worse. Making things complicated isn't always how you move forward with a franchise. Quite often, it's just the opposite. In Pokémon's case, I sincerely think that going back is the only way to move forward.

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